Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A New Ulster 89
A New Ulster 89
Kate Ennals;
1. The Irish Border
2. A Poem in my hand
3. Asking For It
Gavin Bourke;
1. Aloneness
2. Underneath A Wicker Cross
3. A Life In Our Times
4. At Mercies
Helen Fallon;
1. Troubles
Mark Young;
1. In The Hills All Around
2. Geographies: New York City
3. A nearly impossible malware
4. Bon genre
5. A line from Philip K Dick
Michael Lee;
1. Dance of Tears, Chief Nobody
2. Missing Feeding of the Birds
3. Open Eyes Laid Back
4. Tequila
Fionnbharr Rodgers;
1. Laugh and Cry and laugh and Cry
2. The road carries on
3. Is my cat a nationalist
On The Wall
Message from the Alleycats
Neil Flynn:
1. In her Eyes
2. Soul
3. The Sound of Silence
Poetry, prose, art work and letters to be sent to:
Submissions Editor
A New Ulster
23 High Street, Ballyhalbert BT22 1BL
Alternatively e-mail: g.greig3@gmail.com
See page 50 for further details and guidelines regarding submissions. Hard copy distribution is
available c/o Lapwing Publications, 1 Ballysillan Drive, Belfast BT14 8HQ
Or via PEECHO
Digital distribution is via links on our website:
https://anuanewulster.wixsite.com/anewulster
Editorial
One of the hardest parts of working on the magazine in the grip of a global pandemic
is trying to keep morale up. It is far too easy to succumb to ennui or despair at a time like this
we are by nature social creatures, even those with Social Anxiety Disorder on some level
crave human company.
This issue was meant to be out weeks ago and I apologize for that delay the computer
I use to produce each issue stopped working, I had to take it apart, clean out the insides,
remount several components and check the hard drive for physical damage. Thankfully there
turned out to be nothing wrong with the hardware but the software. I had to do a system
restore and then convince Microsoft that it was the same computer so as to get Office
working again.
I’ve been using this machine for nearly six years things will start to wear out that’s the
nature of modern technology and some companies will even release ‘patches’ designed to
deliberately slow down older machines to force people to buy newer products. Well I cannot
afford a new computer so will repair this one as best as I can, back in 2012 the machine I
used then broke and I used the local Library computer to get two issues out before I was able
to raise money for a new machine.
.
Kate Ennals is a prize-winning poet and writer and has published poems
and short stories in a range of literary and on-line journals (Crannog, Skylight
47, Honest Ulsterman, The Moth, Anomaly, The International Lakeview
Journal, Boyne Berries, North West Words, The Blue Nib, Dodging the Rain,
The Ogham Stone, plus). In 2017, she won the Westport Arts Festival Poetry
Competition. Her first collection of poetry At The Edge was published in
2015. Her second collection, Threads, was published in April 2018. She has
lived in Ireland for 25 years and currently runs poetry and writing workshops
in County Cavan. Kate runs At The Edge, Cavan, a literary reading evening,
funded by the Cavan Arts Office.
In daylight, window down, elbow out, you breathe the sweet air of pasture,
Dinkins fresh baked bread, dung. You drive past stumps of steeple,
church spires, grind gears behind Quinn lorries of cement,
navigate yellow or white broken lines, negotiate narrow suspicious towns.
In between lie run-down shacks selling tyres and fireworks.
At Clones / Smithborough, you notice Presbyterians
Methodists, Church of Ireland, as well as Catholics…
People…you nearly forgot to add people.
Yourself, you live in the heart of the island, on the edge of a bog, near
a village on the shores of a loch. You call your neighbours
friends, except they are not. To them, you kick with the other foot
even though they know you don’t kick at all. They remain friendly strangers.
You attend village events, mime your presence, gesticulate. Feign days.
Raise your children in country schools hidden away in woods and trees.
unsure of demeanour, aware of difference, not recognising shrugs
Or the cadence and rhythm in strange guttural voices.
But, you like the lie of the land as you dig in the dirt:
it’s contours, the wilderness of light, the silver evenings
stalking black rimmed clouds. You glory in the early
morning dew, crisp on bare feet as you tramp
to the green house to plant your seeds, the catch of your hair
in the branch of tree, the breath in your throat as you
watch a blackbird hop, the tinkle of a pink fuchsia bell
as it rings forth, the crackle of alder seeds as they whirl to earth.
The moist of damp clay roots in the palm of my hand.
(Kate Ennals)
A Poem in My Hand
(Kate Ennals)
Asking for It
(for the Belfast Rugby players)
My stomach gutted
Rutted by men
Who tell me I want it
Vain glorious
Stain free
Unlike me
I stand condemned
A woman, one in a million
There are millions of me
(Kate Ennals)
Biographical Note: Gavin Bourke
Gavin was born in Tallaght, Dublin and now lives in County Meath,
married to Annemarie. He holds a B.A. Degree from DCU, an M.A. Degree
in Modern Drama Studies from UCD. His work covers nature, time,
memory, addiction, mental health, human relationships, politics, social
issues, injustice as well as urban and rural life. He was shortlisted for The
Redline Book Festival Poetry Award in 2016 for A Rural Funeral. His poem
Unanswered Call is published in the September 2019 issue of Crossways
literary Magazine. He was invited to read his work at the Siarsceál Literary
Festival in October 2019. His ten-page poem Sword Damocles, Falling is
published in the current issue of A New Ulster. His poems Getting On and
Our Tree will be published in the next issue of the international literary
journal Qutub Minar Review. He was highly commended in the Johnathon
Swift Creative Writing Awards 2019 for his poem Louisburgh, County
Memory. His first book of poetry was shortlisted for the Hedgehog Poetry
Press Full Fat Collection Poetry competition in 2019. He has worked in
library service for over twenty years.
Aloneness
The slowness,
A quiet dignity,
again.
of silent pain.
and thoughts.
Just coping,
lasting months.
(Gavin Bourke)
Underneath A Wicker Cross
to do or to feel.
(Gavin Bourke)
A Life in Our Times
Blooming leaves,
pointing outwards,
Under mid-autumn’s,
No regrowth,
for separation,
(Gavin Bourke)
At Mercies
post-breakdowns.
(Gavin Bourke)
Biographical Note: Robin Wyatt Dunn
http://www.robindunn.com/
lief means beloved
as your hair means grace
the after ace affair stark naked and erased
from the grand state
not anywhere I'd want to be:
your writings
the testaments of ants
Helen Fallon was born in Monaghan and now lives and works in Maynooth.
She has published short stories and her poem "Shell-Shocked Land" was a
finalist in the Poetry Ireland/Trócaire 2019 competition.
Troubles
Note:
The goddess Morrigan represents the circle of life and death and her symbol is the crow
(Helen Fallon)
Biographical Note: Mark Young
Mark Young lives in a small town in North Queensland in Australia, & has been publishing
poetry since 1959. He is the author of over fifty books, primarily text poetry but also
including speculative fiction, vispo, & art history. His work has been widely anthologized,
& his essays & poetry translated into a number of languages. His most recent books are
The Perfume of The Abyss from Moria Books; A Vicarious Life — the backing tracks from
otata; taxonomic drift from Luna Bisonte Prods; Residual sonnets from ma press of
Finland; The Comedians from Stale Objects de Press; & Old Rhumba from gradient books.
In the hills, all around
(Mark Young)
geographies: New York City
(Mark Young)
a nearly impossible malware
(Mark Young)
Bon Genre
designer wows
chunky sweaters.
a Forties-style
silhouette &—success!—
thing to wear to my
brother's wedding.
He has managed
leather harness,
I must write a
review. Ugh.
(Mark Young)
A line from Philip K. Dick
(Mark Young)
.
Michael Lee Johnson lived 10 years in Canada during the Vietnam era and is a dual citizen of
the United States and Canada. Today he is a poet, freelance writer, amateur photographer,
and small business owner in Itasca, DuPage County, Illinois. Mr. Johnson published in more
than 1072 new publications, his poems have appeared in 38 countries, he edits, publishes 10
poetry sites. Michael Lee Johnson, has been nominated for 2 Pushcart Prize awards poetry
2015/1 Best of the Net 2016/2 Best of the Net 2017, 2 Best of the Net 2018. 198 poetry videos
are now on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/poetrymanusa/videos. Editor-in-chief
poetry anthology, Moonlight Dreamers of Yellow
Haze: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1530456762; editor-in-chief poetry
anthology, Dandelion in a Vase of Roses available
here https://www.amazon.com/dp/1545352089. Editor-in-chief Warriors with
Wings: the Best in Contemporary Poetry, http://www.amazon.com/dp/1722130717.
Dance of Tears, Chief Nobody (V5)
By Michael Lee Johnson
*Music Video Credit: Native American Indian Music - Sunset Ceremony- Earth
Drums 02
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtdYWcoYKWo
Missing Feeding of the Birds (V3)
By Michael Lee Johnson
I feel weak and Jesus poor, starving, I can’t feed the birds.
I dry thoughts merge day with night, ZzzQuil, seldom sleep.
(Fionnbharr Rodgers)
The road carries on
Love is a longing
(Fionnbharr Rodgers)
Is my cat a nationalist?
Is an Armagh mew
SUBMISSIONS
NB – All artwork must be in either BMP or JPEG format. Indecent and/or offensive images will not be published,
and anyone found to be in breach of this will be reported to the police.
Please include your name, contact details, and a short biography. You are welcome to include a photograph of
yourself – this may be in colour or black and white.
We cannot be responsible for the loss of or damage to any material that is sent to us, so please send copies as
opposed to originals.
Images may be resized in order to fit “On the Wall”. This is purely for practicality.
E-mail all submissions to: g.greig3@gmail.com and title your message as follows: (Type of work here) submitted to
“A New Ulster” (name of writer/artist here); or for younger contributors: “Letters to the Alley Cats” (name of
contributor/parent or guardian here). Letters, reviews and other communications such as Tweets will be published
in “Round the Back”. Please note that submissions may be edited. All copyright remains with the original
author/artist, and no infringement is intended.
These guidelines make sorting through all of our submissions a much simpler task, allowing us to spend more of
our time working on getting each new edition out!
March’s MESSAGE FROM THE ALLEYCATS:
Richard Halperin,
John Grady,
P.W. Bridgman,
Bridie Breen,
John Byrne,
Arthur Broomfield,
Silva Merjanin,
Orla McAlinden,
Michael Whelan,
Sharon Donnell,
Damien Smyth,
Arthur Harrier,
Maire Morrissey Cummins,
Alistair Graham,
Strider Marcus Jones
Our anthologies
https://issuu.com/amosgreig/docs/anu_present_voices_for_peace
https://issuu.com/amosgreig/docs/anu_poetry_anthology_-april
Biographical Note: Neil Flynn
Born in county Kerry, Neil Flynn is a writer for radio, stage and screen alongside
writing poetry. His poems have been published in The Galway Review, Honest
Ulsterman, Glasgow Review of Books, Qutub Minar Review, Sentinel Literary
Quarterly, Cyphers and will appear in forthcoming editions of Stand Magazine and The
Threepenny Review.
He is on the verge of completing his first collection. His play play Gravity (A Love
Story) will receive its World Premier in 2020 directed by Conall Morrison.
In her eyes
I am a setting sun
memory of a shadow flung
of a dream of a street bus-stop checkout
of a night day evening meeting across
queue line tram line ley line so much
jousting standing waiting keeping mouth
zipped tongue unloosed pain enclosed
ire restrained blood chapparalled
in scaffolded veins
so much all you think of is death’s breath
pure fire of love upon your skin
like grass in summer wonder
does she think ‘I could love him without
feeling him’
Stranger
I see you everywhere there are places things
towns clouds mountains angels
walking light of your scent eyes endless
possibilities endlessly unending
I hear you when you pass me
see you in boulevards of night
dancing between the wrinkles of the blind
across my eyelids like fire
stand still I will hold you next time
I will tell you my name
I am not lonely I am searching rugged
hills for gold ersatz will do so are you
we have found each other more times
than there are stars than we dare admit & let
each other go each time like hung-dry
myths like breaking vines no
you have a piece of my heart
see me when I’m not there
I see you watching me at the self-service
queue fill my bag I look for you
in the glass of the parting doors before the street
reclaims me I am become blackness I see you
keep walking want to turn back keep walking
is what you do keep walking when you
should turn back turn back I am love
in reverse we are windblown starlings
hopelessly hopeful of seeing each other between
the sun and the moon oh the things
the things us strangers do
I see you now you are not there
touching you casting memory’s net a sea
of flames baiting you with words you cannot read
but hear my voice it’s in your head somewhere
we are eyeing wanting longing somewhere
we are holding listening belonging somewhere
stranger (darling)
we are
there.
SOUL
Do we have a soul?
The Sound Of Silence
And spoken-word:
Emmet’s speech from the dock:
‘…Meet the fate that awaits me without a murmur’.